Partners
by Eggman15
Summary: An AU story, about the most unlikely pairing in DC history: the Jokers Daughter and the Red Hood! What brings these two together? Read and find out.


**Partners**

An Alternate Universe tale of the DCU

Disclaimer: All characters are owned by DC comics and/or their respective writers and creators. This fanfic is a work of fiction done for non-profit reasons and no copyright infringement is intended.

Authors Note: It will help if you've read the first issue of Dc's Countdown series and if you're familiar with Duela Dent and the Red Hood's history. Plus, the Teen Titans story arc "The future is Now" has a few subtle references, but it's not essential to the story. Enjoy!

Chapter 1

Things Change

I am a Monitor. Once, I think, there was only one of us. Now there are more…many more. Exactly how many, I cannot say. I do not know how we came into being, or why, or what the man the heroes of the prime earth knew as the true Monitor would think of us. I do not know why we seem destined to fail or to go too far, to fight and turn against one another. I thought we were better than that: perhaps that kind of thinking is what leads us here.

I am a forgotten Monitor, one who fled a time so long ago I cannot remember it. In fact, I remember nothing of any of my old life in any great detail. A side affect perhaps, or a fail safe created by my fellow Monitors should I go rogue. We all know too well what a being with my power can accomplish for good AND evil.

Recently, one of my fellows chose the latter path, murdering a woman named Duela Dent in cold blood. As I watched, I found my eye drawn to a similar scene, occurring on a different earth, an earth created by a madman named Alexander Luthor, and altered by a monster called Mister Mind. And I wondered: what might happen, now that the history of two seemingly unimportant humans has been altered? Will it create greater changes or simply barely register? I decided: I will find out.

But this is not my story. I am a humble narrator, relaying these events to you. And while there are no true beginnings, the events earliest starting point can be traced to some time earlier that night.

Six Hours Earlier

In a small and dirty apartment, so grim and filthy that even rats avoided it, something was happening that few would believe, even if they saw it themselves. In a second storey room, windows blacked out by dust and dirt, floor practically carpeted with cockroaches, Duela Dent aka The Jokers Daughter, was sitting on a small and filth covered bed and crying. Her dark eye make up ran down her cheeks, like streaks of coal or ash, her bright red hair a mess. She held her head in her hands as she sobbed, cursing the fact that, once again, she'd been so stupid.

She'd tried so hard, she really had. She'd wanted to be on their team so much, them being the Teen Titans of course, a team that she'd once been a member of for close to three days. To Duela Dent, orphaned and unwanted, it had felt like a life time. But then, she'd come up with the fantasy, the dream about an adventure where her real father was Two Face and she and the Titans stopped his evil plans together. No one else remembered it, of course. The memory of her true parents was gone from everybody's mind. It hadn't happened any more, she supposed. Lots of things hadn't happened on this Earth…Dick Grayson barely knew her. Starfire and the other titans didn't…they didn't…like her. No, in fact, to put it more accurately, they hated her.

There, she'd said it, got it out in the open at least in her mind, and that was practically an open book, as far as most people were concerned. Crazy clown wannabe who goes around claiming to be the daughter of super villains. But what no one understood was that SHE WAS. She was the daughter of a villain and a hero who had been thrown together in bizarre circumstances. The Harlequin and the Joker.

Of course, everyone thought SHE was the Harlequin and in a way she was. Had been. But not here, not on this stupid, worthless CRUEL earth, that seemed to hate her so much. Here, the Titans hated her, thought she was crazy. They said the Psycho Pirate had been crazy too, but the thought that was always in Duela's head was: If we're so crazy, how come we're right?

She'd joined Deathstroke's Titans East, hoping to get revenge on the other titans and show her father…she was eighty percent sure it was the Joker now…that she was able to be as big a villain as he was. She could do anything if she tried, break open Arkham, kill Tim Drake's loved ones, make trouble with the idiots on the Gotham police force…she'd be better than any of them. But somehow, something always seemed to go wrong.

Raven had tricked her, dangled a stupid carrot under her nose in the form of Titans membership and what had she done? She'd beat up her only friend…ever, in fact, now she thought of it. She'd hurt poor sweet Enigma who was so much like her. She sometimes thought maybe Enigma was this world's version of her. She hoped Enigma would have better luck than her.

But the Titans hadn't wanted her, because they NEVER wanted her. They just wanted to use her to ruin everything, and her dreams were wrecked as well. So what now? She supposed that she could just hang herself from the ceiling, but that would depress people: the one thing she liked to see was people laughing, whether they liked it or not. And as her father had said to her once, on another world "If you gotta go out, go out with a…"

"Bang", Duela muttered, thinking quickly. She could think of dozens of people who could outfit her with new gear, and she had plenty of skill herself. Maybe it was time to stop skipping between good and bad, stop pretending the Titans would ever want her or need her or even act like she existed. Time to play the villain. To do everything she knew she could, wreck Arkham, tear up Gotham, and make everyone see who was getting the very lat laugh. Yeah…that sounded fun.

"I think I like it", Duela said, wiping away the tear stains and letting her mouth stretch into a grin that the Joker would have been proud of.

Elsewhere in Gotham

Jason Todd was cursing himself right now, cursing the fact that he'd been so stupid. He'd been impulsive, arrogant and careless and now they knew. The whole world knew who was behind the mask. He'd been terrified that it might have exposed Bruce's secret identity to the world at first, but Bruce had publicly issued a statement saying how saddened that Jason had run down this "Sad obsessive path of revenge".

Part of him had been relieved that Bruce and the others weren't in danger: ironic, given that at one point they'd been in danger from him, during the time of his vendetta against Batman and the others. But another part of him thought: You can hardly point fingers Bruce! I'm obsessive?! Have you looked in a goddamn mirror lately!?

He supposed it was inevitable really, given that he'd shown the Joker his face. The Joker no doubt told someone, probably mocking him, saying how Jason couldn't finish him off even with his "Darker" attitude. There was a time Jason had wanted nothing but the death of the Joker and to "Save" Gotham. He now understood the madness of a plan like that, the ridiculous attempts at "Villainy" behind him. He was something else now. Their were heroes and villains and then there was…him. A grey area was one he was comfortable operating in, much like groups such as the Doom Patrol, the Secret Six or people like Anarky. All had methods that other heroes didn't approve of, yet they were tolerated, due to the fact that their actions rarely endangered truly innocent people.

Still, he would never be part of the Bat family again, a fact that he no longer lost much sleep over. In the end, Batman had chosen another someone who had turned out…better. He'd been replaced, forgotten and ignored. Perhaps, now he'd given up his vendetta, he could at least help others, even if he couldn't save himself. Maybe that would be some kind of consolation prize.

He'd heard rumours of some kind of gang deal going down in Gotham, some thugs trying to get a place with the Great White Shark. Funny, how Gotham's gangs had gone from being run by a man called the Black Mask to being run by a man called the Great White Shark. Sometimes he thought that some villains weren't being nearly imaginative enough with their names, although as he called himself the Red Hood, he could see how that might be verging on hypocrisy.

And so, tonight, he'd go out, patrol the city, bring some scum to justice and hopefully make some kind of difference. He wasn't a hero, but maybe he could at least be more than a villain.

He loaded the gun, checking that it was in working order before heading out, his helmet sliding into place. It was time.

Now

Tracy Angel, current number one and beloved by millions of teenagers everywhere, had not had a good night. She'd been stood up, something that NEVER normally happened, and had decided that it was time to call it a night. Right now, she wanted to get back to her new home while she could still walk. However, as she was in a bad mood, it was inevitable that some weirdo would make things worse. Sometimes she wondered why she lived in New York.

"HI! I'm the Joker's Daughter! You can call me Duela! Let's dance!" the girl said, grinning like a lunatic, which, Tracy thought, she probably was. Anyone who bragged about being related to that sick freak…

"I, um, don't think I'm your type", Tracy replied, desperately looking for anyway around this lunatic. Calling for help wouldn't do much good. The noise in the club was so loud, it was doubtful anyone would hear her.

"Sure you are! You're Tracy Angel, singer, actress and best of all rich!" Duela yelled, flinging several smoke bombs to the ground, the pink mist causing the gathered clubbers to scatter, running for the emergency exits. Duela herself grabbed Tracy and started running, knowing that it was only a matter of time before some costumed vigilante tried to spoil her fun.

Soon taking to the air, Duela looked down at the quivering little brat she'd kidnapped, and thought how easy it would be to just drop her. No big loss, really, just another teen idol dead. She'd probably end up overdosing on drugs or crashing her car in the end anyway. Still, she DID have a plan to follow.

"Okay Tracy, here's how we play this. You call your manager and tell them to bring one million dollars in non sequential twenties and you can go on being everyone's favourite tween idol. If not, you end up as a stain on Rockefeller Centre, okay?" Duela asked, smiling down at her captive. At this moment, Duela realised, she'd never felt more alive.

"O…okay", the captive said, shakily. It was at that point that a bullet tore through Duela's parachute, leaving a large sized hole there.

"Whoops, change of plan. gonna have to get rid of some weight. Sorry kid", Duela said, before flinging Tracy down towards the ground.

However, the airhead didn't hit the ground like Duela thought, instead being caught just in time by some guy in a get up that wouldn't look out of place in a bondage dungeon. Bright red mask and more leather than a bikers rally. He was saying something to the girl but Duela couldn't hear him. She shouted out to him, joking about the way that he'd interfered in her fun, bantering with him.

"After all, it's hard enough with Jeweleee, Harley Quinn and a dozen other wacky wannabe's running around. I have to assert myself somehow, right?" Duela asked, grinning at him.

"Not at the cost of an innocent girls life", he said, and as Duela got a good look at him, she realised it was the Red Hood, aka Jason Todd, former Robin, former Teen Titan, former corpse.

"You know what they say, like Joker like daughter", Duela said, flinging a trick slinky at his neck, only for him to bat it aside with his gun.

"You're not the clown's real daughter", Red Hood said, and the words stung Duela more than she wanted to admit. But she wouldn't show any weakness now.

"And you're not the bat's real son. ZING! So the question is…who are you? How does Jason Todd fit into the grand cosmic scheme of things? I hope you find out. As for me? I'm in the wind", Duela said, before leaping out off the roof top, swooping away. She knew the Red Hood would try to follow her, she was expecting it. What she hadn't expected was for him to shot her parachute full of holes again. Fortunately, she was agile and easily landed on a rooftop, rolling away.

"Time to ditch no fun boy", she muttered, starting to run. She had better things to do tonight than grapple with a lunatic in a mask…although none sprang to mind right now.

Jason Todd sighed to himself. Yet another maniac who knew who he was, yet another potential threat. He picked up the barely conscious form of Tracy whatever her name was and carried her down, noticing several police cars zooming towards him. He thought about Duela's words, about what she'd said to him. He wasn't the bats real son, yet he'd aspired to be everything he was, and later everything he SHOULD be. Were he and Duela really so different? Both of them, hiding in the shadows of their "Parents"?

He handed the girl over to one of the police officer's who nodded to him in return. The police understood him, understood what he did. No matter the legalities, none of the cops wanted to bring down someone who saved innocent lives and put murderers and rapists either in jail…or in the morgue. He'd tempered his method though, his kill lust gone. He'd come to understand, during his encounter with Duck Grayson, that he needed to turn away before he became the monsters he was fighting.

It was at that point he heard a scream, a scream that seemed somehow familiar to him, and it took seconds for it to register.

"Duela?" Jason muttered. He could leave her, allow her to face whatever threat there was by herself. But ultimately…no, no justifications, ultimately he didn't WANT to.

Duela herself had ducked into an alleyway, hoping to avoid the Red Hood's attentions. She moved just in time to avoid an energy blast that shot past her.

"I knew Robin Redux wasn't too tightly wrapped but I didn't think he'd blow away another one time Titan. Still if he want to play…it's the latest thing in gags! Spray taser!" Duela said, pressing the button on a canister she'd whipped out of her bag, tasers shooting from it towards the shadowy figure she assumed to be the Red Hood. However, the energy was sent back at her, destroying the taser can.

"This world is not yours. Your presence is not tolerated. The sentence is death", the man in the shadows said, and as she heard his voice, she realised that it wasn't Red Hood. In fact, it was something like she'd never seen before, maybe alien. It was in heavy blue and silver armour, and was carrying what looked like a laser beam. As it raised it towards her, a kick sent the weapon spinning from its hand, the blast going wild and sending debris showering down on Duela. She was conscious just long enough to see it was the Red Hood who had saved her.

"Whatever you say pal. I'm not to tolerant of gun wielding crazies myself", the Red Hood said, landing a punch on the aliens face, before grabbing his fallen weapon.

"You are both incongruities that must be purged", the thing said, reaching for a second weapon, only for Jason to smile beneath his helmet before pulling the trigger. Killing criminals was something that only prickled his conscience now: killing some psycho alien with a tacky beard was easier than swatting a fly. Tossing the gun aside as the aliens charred corpse turned to dust, Jason ran to Duela, lifting her head in his hands, surprised that he genuinely felt concerned for her. Her eyes…her eyes were like staring into clear water, her smile a perfect red.

"Duela?" Jason asked, hearing his voice falter. However, it was at that point that he realised she was still breathing. It was faint but it was there. She was alive…the question was, what to do now.

I am intrigued. Already, events have diverged significantly. I am curious as to how this will play out in the long run. My fellow Monitors believe that alterations and incongruities are a threat. I believe they are something else…I believe they are hope. I will continue to chronicle this universe, learn of what is to come. Good or bad, I will monitor it…it is what I was created for.

Monitor 0: end of Log 1

To be continued…


End file.
